Precis of Finn Mackay Article Reclaiming Revolutionary Feminism

Finn Mackay's article, "Reclaiming revolutionary feminism" (2015), explores the history and ideologies of revolutionary feminism and asserts its influence in today's contemporary feminism. In her article, Finn holds an interview with Al Garthwaite who was a very influential and prominent revolutionary feminist activist from the United Kingdom. From this interview, Finn is able to learn the history of revolutionary feminism from Al and gain knowledge on how it has affected today's current contemporary feminism. Finn states that contemporary feminism is gaining more popularity in the current society, Feminist activism has been on the rise especially among young women. According to a survey many feminist activists were found to be in their twenties and have been an active feminist since they were teenagers.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Finn asserts that the origins of Revolutionary feminism to be Britain, founded by an activist called Sheila Jeffreys, in 1977. Finn states Revolutionary feminism was seen to be similar to radical feminism which emerged in the U.S much earlier in the 1960s. The similarity between these two schools of feminism was that they both emphasized the need for more autonomous women and identified Male violence against women as the cause of women oppression.

According to Finn the difference between these two schools of feminism is the fact that Radical feminism had turned out to be a "cult of women." Radical feminism was perceived to be more of a cultural lifestyle and cult that had no revolution potential. Al notes that this perception of Radical Feminism did not appeal to the majority of Revolutionary feminists. Al notes that Revolutionary feminism singled out male violence against women as the cause of female oppression. Many feminists felt that revolutionary feminism was more practical and had a solid foundation of the ideologies of feminism. According to Al Radical feminism was vaguer and was all talk and no action.

Similar to Contemporary feminism, Al states that revolutionary Feminism was criticized from the beginning and had been accused of splitting various women liberation movements in the past. Revolutionary feminism was also accused of politicizing lesbianism and separatism. It was also thought of being responsible for the male-hating attitude feminist's activists possess (Campbell 19). Revolutionary feminists were "Vehement separatists who declared war on men" (Setch 172). These criticisms according to Al made people ignorant of the key issues revolutionary feminism was trying to solve. Revolutionary feminism concluded that violence against women was the main reason that led to women oppression and the main purpose of their activism. According to Al Revolutionary feminism viewed Male violence as a social concept and causation of patriarchy. According to revolutionary feminism, violence against women was socially accustomed to young boys and this reflected in male perception towards women.

Revolutionary Feminism has impacted today's contemporary feminism a lot according to Al. Revolutionary feminism has managed to ensure that the harmful effects of male violence against women have been brought to the limelight, in modern times Male violence against women has received a lot of attention in the media, politics and also among policymakers. However, she identifies many more challenges facing feminism in the current times including pornography that makes women look like tools and also unrealistic standards in the beauty industry puts a lot of unnecessary stress on women.

Revolutionary feminism, however, brought many gains and achievements in the present, due to revolutionary feminism women are not perceived as the weaker sex, and are nowadays viewed as independent. Women are currently viewed capable of achieving their own goals. Al also noted that there had been an exponential increase in the number of feminist activists and the diversity of participants in feminist activism has significantly increased than in the past.

According to Al, the seven demands of feminism remain constant despite the various schools of feminism and era.

The seven demands of feminism include:

1. Equal remuneration
2. Equal career opportunities and equal education
3. Free access to contraceptives and abortion services when requires
4. Free 24/7 nurseries for their children
5. Legal and financial liberty
6. No More discrimination against women choice of their sexuality
7. Freedom from any form of violence, intimidation, sexual harassment, despite their marital status

According to Al, an exclusive all-women political outfit is also necessary as it provides a stronger statement, and displays the unity of like-minded feminists, according to Al homophobia is also a viable reason as to why some women are reluctant in joining feminist protests, groups or events openly. Al also noted that although revolutionary feminism was not understood properly in the past and not commonly heard in the present times, many concerns they had in the past are known in the limelight. The main agendas of revolutionary feminism noted by Al were: Revealing that male violence against women as the main reason of oppression against women; Promotion of women only political organizations and Feminist Activism. According to Al the current feminism movement has been able to address these issues and she was also positive of the rise in the involvement of women in active feminism. The various challenges she noted that continue to threaten the success of feminism was homophobia, unrealistic beauty standards from western culture and also the pornography industry

Conclusion

In her conclusion, Finn Mackay notes that the ideas and ideologies of Revolutionary Feminism are still relevant in today's contemporary feminism, even though revolutionary feminism remains relatively unheard of today. However, the seven demands of feminism are still elusive in current society, male violence against women still kills many women worldwide, and women are still affected by acts of sexual violence from men. Statistics still show many women worldwide still face oppression. Revolutionary feminism promoted lesbianism, women-only political organizations, political independence, critiquing patriarchy and shunning male violence against women, these are still current concerns among current contemporary feminists worldwide. Finn Mackay in her article has been able to prove that revolutionary feminism has been crucial and relevant to the prevailing modern ideology of feminism and the challenges feminists face worldwide.

Works Cited

Beatrix, Campbell. "A Feminist Sexual Politics: Now You See It, Now You Don't." Feminist Review, 5, (1980): pp.1-18.

Eve, Setch. "'The Face of Metropolitan Feminism: The London Women's LiberationWorkshop, 1969-79'." Twentieth Century British History, 13 (2) (2002): pp. 171-190.

Mackay, Finn. "Reclaiming revolutionary feminism." Feminist Review, 106 (2014): 95-103.